I Never Thought I Could Be Free – Saratoga Springs | Albany |Troy | New York – Boudoir

I could not conceive of a more appropriate blog to share this week…the week of Independence Day.

Despite the many MANY faults of our country, especially under the leadership of our current fascist misogynistic cheeto of a president, this United States is still the land of the free.  There is so much that I take for granted living here, always blinded by the fight for equality, and so infrequently taking a moment to realize how lucky I am to be from here.

We have a long way to go America…for our immigrants, for our black brothers and sisters, for women, for the LGBTQ Community…but we are still light years ahead of parts of the world.

This week, while the fight still rages on, this blog reminded me exactly what it is we are  celebrating and fighting to maintain and progress.  A country where freedom CAN be celebrated, where women do not have to cover themselves (unless they choose to), where we can be who we want to be, where we have the right to speak and fight for our voices to be heard.

Happy Independence Day friends.  We still have a long way to go. But for today, I am grateful.

Read below to see what this weeks #LRPBoudieBeauty has to say… REALLLLLYYYYY read it…and let it soak in.

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“Sexuality is a unique thing, especially for someone like me whose an immigrant to this country from one of the most oppressed countries, well ever. I never thought I could be free. I never thought I could embrace who I was and actually feel beautiful as an individual without a man. I never thought I could even consent freely. For a lot of my life, I felt subdued, oppressed, like my destiny had been previously assigned and I had no say… yet here I was, fighting for it… without necessarily even knowing what I was fighting for. It was honestly inspired by the beauty that lay underneath your art Lindsay. I saw it and fell recklessly in love, believing… wishing that could be me too, despite all I had been through which I know I’ll never have the words to say…

You made it happen. You made me feel beautiful again, in a very real way. In Pakistan, where I’m from, beauty doesn’t get equated with independence, especially not your sexual independence, which i had been dying to just feel without remorse…. I wanted to roar up and be fierce… but that decision was not without consequence. It always feels like there’s a consequence when it comes to being a woman, when it came to being me. Nobody cared what I had been through, or to hear things from my perspective. Labeling is easy, but it’s not what I’m about. I’m about being me. You gave me that back, without judgement, without fear.

This experience let me be me, effortlessly. To be real, to be true. I’m an aspirer, but you’re a dream maker. To feel sexy, to feel real, to feel human, to feel true, to feel Fire. You bring fire to life. I appreciate these photos for that reason, I appreciate you for that reason, and I thank you for that reason. I’m fire come true and these photos reveal that. That’s more than I could ever wish for… so thank you and Erin for making me beautiful like the sparks, like the stars, like the embers that I’ve only dreamed of till now. Thank you endlessly for helping me be me, and for making my unspoken reality come true …. ?”  ~Ms. H

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Hair and makeup by Erin Marie Artistry